Roaming through Romans - The Reason for the Letter (Romans 1:1-17)

During the next few months, the SPC Thursday Evening Bible Study will be looking at Paul's Letter to the Romans, the single work that may best offer his theology and ethic. You see, in this letter, he explained to the church in Rome his understanding of human nature, faith, righteousness, and God's intention for everybody. He also offered practical ways we can live as Christians within the world and the church. And as we'll see during the seventeen session, what he had to say to the Romans is just as applicable today as it was almost 2,000 years ago. We'll following the schedule below:

• July 18 - The Reason for the Letter (Romans 1:1-17)
• July 25 - Human Guilt (Romans 1:18 – 2:11)
• August 1 - Including the Jews and Everyone Else (Romans 2:17 – 3:20)
• August 8 - But There's Faith (Romans 3:21 – 4:25)
• August 15 - Faith and Righteousness ( Romans 5:1-21)
• August 22 - The Living Dead ( Romans 6:1-14)
• August 29 - Sin, Slaves and Spouses ( Romans 6:15 – 7:6)
• September 5 - Sin Remains( Romans 7:7-25)
• September 12 - New Life ( Romans 8:1-39)
• September 19 - Back to the Jews (Romans 9:1-29)
• September 26 - But They Rejected Jesus ( Romans 9:30 – 10:21)
• October 3 - God's Ultimate Plan (Romans 11:1-36)
• October 10 - Now What We Should Do (Romans 12:1-21)
• October 17 - Obedience and Love (Romans 13:1-14)
• October 24 - Concern for Brothers and Sisters (Romans 14:1 – 15:6)
• November 7 - Tying It Up (Romans 15:7-33)
• November 14  - Personal Greetings (Romans 16:1-27)

During our first session, we looked at Romans 1:1-17 and discussed the reason Paul wrote the letter. The recording of our discussion and the passage we discussed are below.

Romans 1:1-17 [New Revised Standard Version]

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish —hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”